Reality Check
by Midnyght Saber
Summary: Just a little piece I put together. Full explanation inside, but short story: Danny is bored the day before his birthday, and in an attempt to do something to get the day going, he downloads a song he finds after starting a search with the word "birthday"


**Disclaimer: **_Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International Inc. "Birthday" is the property of the Crüxshadows and Dancing Ferret. "Dance Dance Revolution" is the property of Konami Corporation.

* * *

Danny groaned lightly as he blinked, finally coming far enough out of the sea of unconsciousness to realize that he'd fallen asleep in the first place. Looking over to his computer desk, he saw the large display showing him that it was currently seven past three in the afternoon. Groaning again, Danny pushed himself up off of his bed, plopping down in front of his computer with a sigh.

Rolling the mouse for a moment, Danny waited for the computer to snap out of its state of hibernation. He'd been out long enough for even the screen saver to stop showing. As the computer monitor finally lit up, Danny clicked the icon next to his name.

Password, the machine prompted, and Danny tapped the CAPS LOCK button before entering the code: LILITH1031. Smirking to himself for the umpteenth time, Danny tapped the Enter key, silently applauding himself for using an unexpected password. Since he was well aware of the fact that people had already gotten past his security system during the PAULINA FENTON days, he was all too sure that SAM FENTON would be just as obvious, especially with how bad he _really_ had it for his best friend. So, the password became a tribute to Sam rather than a notion of her future name – the name she'd used for her flower sack, and Halloween, her favorite day of the year.

Opening his instant messenger software, he saw, with some degree of frustration, that neither his girlfriend nor his best friend were on at that time. Shaking his head to clear the last bit of sleep, he gazed at the monitor, silently cursing to himself. It wasn't fair, after all. He shouldn't be _this _bored the _day before_ his birthday.

Clicking on the Internet icon, Danny quickly checked his emails, not surprised to find an eCard from Sam waiting for him, though the other five messages were just spam. After trashing the other messages, Danny opened the card, waiting for the animation to load up. Scanning the bar below the card, however, he noticed the personalized note she'd entered.

_Hey, Danny. Just wanted to say happy birthday, even if I am going to see you tomorrow. I'm probably going to be out of the house for a while tomorrow, since Tucker kind of pulled the last-minute I-forgot-to-buy-a-present on me, and he needs me to help him find something. I already got your present, so it's not like we both forgot or something. Oh, and by the way, I know the card isn't a birthday one, but the B-day ones all stank._

_Love you,_

_Sam_

Looking back up, Danny watched a pair of blue jays sitting on a branch, the words **Start Over** next to them in big, bold green letters. Clicking it, he watched the video. A single blue jay was flying, and it suddenly dove down, landing next to another jay. The birds chirped, and Danny reached over to turn up the volume on his speakers. The birds chirped a little longer before they both took off and careened through the skies before landing on a branch, their little birdie heads turned towards the clouds. During the video, three lines had shown up, and Danny couldn't help but smile.

_**Life is never really lived when you fly through it alone.**_

_**But once in a while, you find another just like you, and with them, living becomes something more.**_

_**I just wanted to say thank you for helping me find out how much fun life really is.**_

Danny moved the card to one of his email folders, drumming his fingers against the desk as he waited for the page to load, and then realized he had no reason to stay online. Clicking the X in the corner, he stared at the screen, again hating the fact that it was less than twelve hours to his eighteenth birthday and he was _bored_.

Finally frustrated after five minutes of useless staring into space, he leaned forward and moved the mouse over another icon on his desktop, double-clicking and waiting for the P2P program to load up. It wasn't often that he downloaded music, but there was nothing better for him to do anyway. Once the main window had loaded, Danny switched to the search tab, clicking on Audio downloads. With no idea what bands were any good, he shrugged before typing 'birthday' into the title bar and hitting Enter.

He wasn't expecting anything to show up that would be worth it to download, but after about three minutes, he stopped the search, organizing the files according to their names. Most of the songs were just various versions of "Happy Birthday", as well as a few songs he doubted were any good. His eyes caught something as he scrolled down the list, and he smiled faintly. He had no idea who the band was other than the name being The Crüxshadows, but the fact remained that he'd seen the name before in Sam's CD collection. Unaware of what kind of genre they were listed under, he clicked on the song labeled "Birthday", hoping that it wasn't just another version of "Happy Birthday" like most of the others. Regardless, the fact that Sam liked the band enough to buy their CDs was enough for Danny to give them a try. He had to admit, his girlfriend usually had good taste in music.

He switched to the status menu, watching the progress bar slowly fill up. He considered hitting the preview button, but songs tended to skip if you played them while they were loading, so Danny waited. Besides, if he didn't like the song, he could just trash it.

Standing, Danny phazed into the kitchen, grabbing a soda from the fridge before returning to his computer, and found the progress bar now a bright green, rather than the blue it was during download. Clicking the Clear Inactive command, he minimized the program before opening his Music folder, soon finding the completed download. Double-clicking on it, his media program soon kicked in, and he turned up the volume on his speakers just a little more as the song started.

His foot absently tapped to the beat, and a small part of his brain thought that this song would make a great _Dance Dance Revolution_ stage, though it did throw him off that Sam listened to a band he felt was very different from her usual tastes, in that she normally listened to gothic, power, or death metal, not something this upbeat.

Then, the lead singer started in, and Danny's eyes went wide.

**Roll out of bed**

**Look in the mirror**

**And wonder who you are**

**Another year has come and gone**

**Today is your birthday**

**But it might be the last day of your life**

**What will you do, if tomorrow, it's all gone?**

**You won't be young forever**

**There's only a fraction**

**To the sum**

**You won't be young forever**

**Nor will anyone**

**So…**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**And what do you want to do?**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**You haven't got forever**

This was _so _Sam that it was almost funny that he had considered the band too 'pop-ish' for her tastes at first listen.

The song really hit a chord with Danny, especially with his half-ghost status, as well as the ever-present issue of what he was going to do with his life, bad grades and all. His thoughts cut off, however, as the band started in on the second verse.

**And tell me what really matters**

**Is it the money and the fame?**

**Or how many people**

**Might eventually know your name?**

**But maybe you touch one life**

**And the world becomes**

**A better place to be**

**Maybe you give their dreams another day**

**Another chance to be free**

**You won't be young forever**

**There's only a fraction**

**To the sum**

**You won't be young forever**

**Nor will anyone**

**So…**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**And what do you want to do?**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**It all comes back to you**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**Happy birthday**

**You won't be young forever**

**There's only a fraction**

**To the sum**

**You won't be young forever**

**Nor will anyone**

**So…**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**And what do you want to do?**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**It all comes back to you**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**And what do you want to do?**

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**

**Look at your life**

**You haven't got forever**

Danny blinked for a moment, his mind only barely registering the fact that the song had ended. Something, somewhere deep inside him, had just _clicked_, and he couldn't help but grab the journal Jazz had given him from the desk drawer, immediately writing on the first empty page he found.

- - - - -

Sam knocked lightly against the door, waiting for someone to answer, a small bag hanging off of her arm. Seconds later, the door opened, revealing a slightly frazzled Maddie. "Hello, Sam," she said, allowing the young girl access to the house.

"Hi, Mrs. Fenton. You okay?" Sam asked.

"Just fine. Jack tried to help with the cake for Danny's party tomorrow and managed to animate the frosting. We just managed to get it back into the container, but I've got to head out for some more."

Sam smirked. It was just like Danny's family for even a simple birthday cake to have issues.

"Danny's upstairs in his room," Maddie called over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

Sam ascended the stairs, hearing a faint bass line resounding from Danny's room. _He must have his speakers really high, _she thought, but just as she raised her arm to knock, the words of the song hit her ears. _He's listening to Crüxshadows?_ she wondered.

**And tell me what really matters**

**Is it the money and the fame?**

**Or how many people**

**Might eventually know your name?**

Sam couldn't help but smile as she heard another voice under the blaring of the speakers. Sounding for all the world like a stage-performing veteran, she was astonished at Danny's vocal talent, and she stood outside his room, silently listening in as his voice blended melodiously with the singer's. The song choice, however, was the only thing that didn't surprise her.

**Look at your life**

**Who do you want to be before you die?**


End file.
